'Megacast' is a logical extension of experience of NFL fans and others

Which of ESPN’s BCS title game “megacast” channels are you most intrigued by? As much as I like Musberger and Herbstreit, I personally want to try the one that is just ambient crowd noise, with no commentators.

ESPN’s experiment feels like the continuation of a trend — a few weeks ago, Turner announced that it will show multiple versions of the Final Four on various channels, one made for each particular fan base involved in the game, along with the standard “national” broadcast.

Of course, in a way, your Sunday NFL viewing experience already is a de facto ‘megacast’ — albeit split across a wide range of platforms, not unified under a single brand like ESPN.

Local angle: You might watch your local team on CBS or FOX (or listen on the radio).

As more video channels become available digitally — whether it’s something open like YouTube or privately branded like HuffPo Live — more points of view will become available, until niche ambience is the norm.

Products like Red Zone have already changed the way we think about viewing “the game we’re all watching.”

The universal conversation topic — the game — is never going anywhere. However, the options available to consume it — and I’m talking specifically about the accompanying commentary — are shifting dramatically.

(This is a great moment to praise Scott Hanson and the NFL Red Zone Channel team, which is — inarguably — the single-best product on television right now. They make an already-compelling NFL season way better. And the DirecTV version is good, too — it’s simply not the one I watch.)